Despite, though likely because, Iran is
ready to restart negotiations with the
so-called P5+1 group (the five members of
the UN Security Council plus Germany) over
its civilian nuclear program, belligerent
rhetoric and sharply-worded political
attacks from Israel and the United States
have escalated.
Continue

Love is not selflessness. It is the
giving of one’s best self, giving one’s
highest self unto the world. It is finding
true selfhood. Selflessness is martyrdom,
dying for a cause. Selfhood is living for a
cause.
Continue

The Houses of Morgan, Goldman and the other
Big Five are justifiably worried right now,
because an “event of default” declared on
European sovereign debt could jeopardize
their $32 trillion derivatives scheme.
Continue

'Many killed' in
attack on Nigerian market:
Nigeria's military said it killed eight
suspected radical Islamists who attacked a
market in the northeastern city of
Maiduguri, denying reports that dozens of
civilians had been killed in the attack.

Iraq officials:
Violence drops as al Qaida group moves to
Syria: The departure of
al Qaida-affiliated fighters from Iraq to
join the rebellion against Syrian President
Bashar Assad in Syria has had one benefit,
Iraqi officials say: Violence has dropped in
this country, in some areas by as much as 50
percent in just a few months.

Syrian security has
upper hand after weekend unrest:
Syrian security forces maintained calm
Monday in areas of Damascus rocked by
demonstrations over the weekend, as
president Bashar al-Assad reiterated that
ongoing violence was the result of armed
terrorist groups funded by “foreign
parties.”

U.S. providing secret
aid to Syria opposition: diplomat:
Maalouf said the doors of the White House
and Congress are open to officials from the
Syrian expatriate community, most of whom
are supportive of the SNC, adding that the
U.S. is secretly providing aid to the
opposition, though he did not specify
whether this support was financial or
military.

China: US and allies
push Syria into civil war:
US and its allies are pushing Syria into
civil war by backing the armed opposition,
the newspaper of China's ruling Communist
Party writes. The article insists Beijing
must stick to opposing any attempt to
intervene or regime change in Damascus.

Opposition groups to
attend Tunis conference:
“There has been enough killing. There must
be radical political change,” Abdessalem
said after meeting with his counterparts
from Algeria, France, Italy, Libya, Malta,
Mauritania, Morocco, Portugal and Spain.

White House:
Netanyahu, Obama to meet in Washington on
March 5: A White House
statement rounding up the recent Israel
visit by Obama's National Security Advisor
Tom Donilon, which announced the date for
the upcoming meeting, indicated that the top
advisor discussed the "full range of
security issues of mutual concern" during
his meetings with Israeli leadership.

India importing Iran
oil, slap in face for US: Ex-US Official:
“The Indian government’s ill-advised
statement last week that it will continue to
purchase oil from Iran is a major setback
for the US attempt to isolate the Iranian
government over the nuclear issue,” Nicholas
Burns, former US Undersecretary of State for
Political Affairs

Bahrain uprising may
lead to civil war: There
is a “dangerous possibility” of civil war in
Bahrain unless the government starts opening
a dialogue to democracy and discussing the
serious qualms of the people, an analyst
tells us.

A U.S.
double-standard for Bahrain?:
The protesters are mainly Shia Muslims, who
make up 70 percent of the population but are
shut out of almost all government posts. The
Sunni al Khalifa family has ruled Bahrain
for more than 200 years, with King Hamad bin
Isa al Khalifa holding nearly complete
control of the country.

NATO double game in
Libya under UN cover revealed: A Canadian newspaper has revealed
an account of NATO’s double-game in Libya
and disclosed how the NATO countries
collaborated with each other to topple the
Libyan regime and secretly supplied most
sophisticated weapons and drones to Libyan
rebels.

Afghan schools open,
but under the Taliban's rules:
Afghanistan's state-run schools are
experiencing a renaissance, with some
reopening for the first time in nearly a
decade. Acid attacks on girls, murdered
teachers, bombings of classrooms - these are
on the decline.

The EU states are calling for
creating humanitarian corridors in Syria,
which some fear could open the door to
foreign intervention. But Asia Times
correspondent Pepe Escobar says it's already
underway.Continue

The Palestinian National Authority,
which is nothing but a smokescreen to enable
Israel to ethnically cleanse itself while
the world and Palestinian quislings are
preoccupied with the pursuit of the mirage
of a two-state solution.
Continue

It’s finally starting to dawn on many
Americans that they stand in no different
position, in principle, from the citizenry
in those U.S.-supported dictatorships in
Latin America and the Middle East.
Continue

"We've slipped away from a true Republic,"
Paul said. "Now we're slipping into a
fascist system where it's a combination of
government and big business and
authoritarian rule and the suppression of
the individual rights of each and every
American citizen."
Continue

The ‘crises of capital’ has been converted
into a strategic advantage for furthering
the most fundamental interests of capital:
the enlargement of profits, the
consolidation of capitalist rule, the
greater concentration of ownership, the
deepening of inequalities between capital
and labor and the creation of huge reserves
of labor to further augment their profits.
Continue

20 People Killed in
Iraqi Police Academy Blast:
A suicide bomber detonated his car Sunday as
a group of police recruits left their
academy in Baghdad, killing 20 in the latest
strike on security officials that angry
residents blamed on political feuding that
is roiling Iraq.

Eight Pakistan
militias killed in checkpoint bomb:
A bomb planted at a checkpoint manned by
members of a Pakistani militia fighting a
radical group similar to the Taliban and
killed eight militia members in north-west
Pakistan yesterday, a government official
said.

What a joke:
US Govt fully
respects Pakistan’s sovereignty:
Acting Ambassador of the United States in
Pakistan, Richard Hoagland on Sunday said
that the US government fully respects
Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial
integrity.

Iran warships 'dock
in Syria's Tartous port':
Israel's foreign ministry denounced the
deployment as a "provocation" and a "power
play".: Youcef Bouandel, professor of
international affairs at Qatar University,
told Al Jazeera that Iran's deployment has
to be viewed as part of a "broader picture"
- that it to say that the Iranian government
feels that "Syria is the first step towards
putting Iran in the corner".

Iranian War Is
Imminent: Short video on
the role of France and Britain in the 1953
overthrow of Iranian democracy and the
installation of the puppet Shah that
tortured, murdered and suppressed for a
quarter of a century on behalf of the
French, British and Americans.

Algeria seizes
missiles smuggled from Libya: source:
Algerian security forces have found a large
cache of weapons, including shoulder-fired
missiles, which they believe were smuggled
in from neighboring Libya, a security source
briefed on the discovery told Reuters on
Saturday.

Stranger than fiction:
Rick Santorum says:
Dutch elderly are euthanized en masse:
Republican Rick Santorum, candidate for the
presidential elections in 2012, is known for
his conservative views. But hey Also Appears
to have an Unbridled imagination, at least
about the Netherlands' where half or the
elderly are euthanized Against Their Will. "
According To Santorum

You have frequently asserted that
“human rights” are at the center of your
policy. But we know that any such statements
come with an asterisk. Palestinians are
exempt from such rights, and Israel is
exempt from any accountability.
Continue

The FBI and DOJ have launched the
“Communities Against Terrorism” program. The
campaign seeks assistance from workers in 25
industries to spy on their fellow citizens
ferret out the terrorists among us.
Continue

While the mainstream financial media and
government officials have tried to spin this
story as one that involves only Greek debt,
the fact of the matter is that this isn’t
isolated to a single country. Italy,
Portugal, Ireland and most other European
countries are in exactly the same boat.
Continue

The fundamental problem isn’t the decline of
American manufacturing, and reviving
manufacturing won’t solve it. The problem is
the declining power of American workers to
share in the gains of the American economy.
Continue

Afghan president
meets Taliban-linked cleric in peace talks:
The Afghan president met Saturday with a
Pakistani cleric linked to Taliban
insurgents, a meeting that marked the first
public contact between an Afghan official
and members of the Afghan Taliban's support
network in Pakistan in Afghanistan's bid to
bring the militant movement to the
negotiating table.

Iran to conduct joint
exercises with Syria?:
An Iranian flotilla has arrived in a Syrian
port to provide maritime training to the
country’s navy, media reports. It’s only the
second time Iranian warships have sailed
through the Suez Canal into the
Mediterranean.

Video: Raymond
McCartney, former Irish hunger striker in
message of support to Khader Adnan:
Raymond McCartney, the former Irish hunger
striker and current Member of Northern
Ireland’s Legislative Assembly for Sinn Féin
is the latest from Ireland to send a message
of solidarity to Palestinian political
prisoner Khader Adnan, who is entering his
63rd day of hunger strike protesting
administrative detention, a policy started
by the British and which is illegal under
international law.

Prison inmate dies
while on hunger strike in California:
A 27-year-old convicted murderer has died
while on a hunger strike to protest
restrictions on access to health, good food,
legal services and other amenities in a
segregation unit at a California prison,
prison officials said on Friday.

Iceland's Viking
Victory: Congratulations
to Iceland. Fitch has upgraded the country
to investment grade BBB – with stable
outlook, expecting government debt to peak
at 100pc of GDP.

Lessons From Iceland:
We have been told that there is no way out
of the debt burden that has been imposed on
Irish citizens as a result of the collapse
of the banks. But that, after all, may be no
more than propaganda.

Anyone who believes that the Empire
is at all concerned about the ‘human rights’
of Syrian citizens and it’s this that
motivates its desire to ‘protect’, must have
slept through the Empire’s decades-long
killing spree.Continue

The modus operandi of these thought
police at Color of Change and ADL is to
brand as racists and anti-Semites any writer
who dares to venture outside the narrow
corral in which they seek to confine debate.Continue

Violence in opposition to the State
relieves the State and the citizenry of any
guilt for a brutal response to all
protesters—and it refocuses from the nominal
issue to the issue of violence by
protesters.
Continue

US kills 21 people in
Pakistan : At least 21
"suspected" militants were killed on
Thursday when U.S. drones carried out two
airstrikes in northwest Pakistan's tribal
region, Pakistani intelligence officials
said. Several others were injured.

Pakistan troops 'kill
17 Taliban in clash':
Pakistani troops killed 17 Taliban on Friday
in a clash in the country's troubled
northwest, with one soldier and three
militiamen also dying, security officials
said.

Australia's link to
secret Iraq prisons:
Illegal detention ... Australian troops were
"integral" to the operation of a secret
Iraqi desert prison. The revelation has led
to an Australian human rights organisation
investigating such secret prisons to claim
that the Australian military might have been
complicit in war crimes by handing detainees
over to the so-called ''black site'' known
as H1.

Officials: US drones
monitoring clashes in Syria:
"A good number" of unmanned U.S. military
and intelligence drones are operating in the
skies over Syria, monitoring the Syrian
military's attacks against opposition forces
and innocent civilians alike, U.S. defense
officials tell NBC News' Jim Miklaszewski.

Friendly advice:
France, UK to command ousting of Assad?:
Coordinating help for Syrian opposition was
high on the list in Paris talks between the
French and British leaders on Friday.
Anti-government troops lack unity and
training, so sending military advisors could
change the situation, the sides agreed.

Fighters, weapons
flow into Syrian war zone:
SYRIA has become a magnet for foreign
fighters, with al-Qaeda-aligned jihadists
streaming across the border from Iraq and
rebel soldiers from the Libyan city of
Misrata crossing in from Turkey, experts
say.

Act of war:SWIFT to
exclude Iran banks:
SWIFT, the global interbank transfer
network, said Friday it was ready to exclude
Iranian banks from its system once the EU
has enacted new sanctions to that effect
against Tehran.

U.S. General: Iran
unlikely to strike unless hit:
The nation's U.S. intelligence officials
said Thursday that if Iran is attacked over
its alleged nuclear weapons program, it
could retaliate by closing the Strait of
Hormuz to ships and launch missiles at
regional U.S. forces and allies.

Panetta: No Iranian
decision yet on nukes:
"The intelligence does not
show that they've made the decision to
proceed with developing a nuclear weapon."
Clapper said it's "technically feasible"
that Tehran could produce a nuclear weapon
in one or two years if its leaders decide to
build one, "but practically not likely."

Presstitute Alert: Nuclear Threat!
Iran Building Bombs
To Attack NYC? : New
York Congressman Peter King, who is head of
the House's Homeland Security Committee,
said, “New York is the No. 1 target,” King
said. “New York has all the targets that
terrorists want.”

Engineering Consent For An Attack On
Iran:
Tensions with Iran
raise US safety concerns:
The government is worried that Iran will
consider a terror attack on American soil,
but it has no specific or credible threat
about such a plot. Police from Los Angeles
to New York City said they were anxious
about the risks

Engineering Consent For An Attack On
Iran:
Israel: Iran,
Hezbollah plotting attacks abroad:
- A senior Israeli counterterrorism official
claimed Friday that Iran and its Lebanese
ally Hezbollah are plotting attacks on
Israelis overseas and urged travelers to be
vigilant.

Airport security
can't treat Arab Israelis like suspicious
objects: Nobody questions the need for
airport security checks. But what happens at
Israel's airports, and at El Al counters
overseas, goes way beyond what is necessary
to ensure passenger safety: It entails
unnecessary humiliation and being singled
out on account of one's ethnic origin.

Greek Cuts Drama:
Healthcare doomed, army booms
: Cuts and slashes in spending have left
hospitals short of medicine, workers short
of cash and many ill Greeks out of luck.
But, as RT's Jacob Greaves reports, the NATO
chief's visit to Greece suggests the
military may remain largely immune.

Testifying before the Senate Armed
Services Committee today, Director of
National Intelligence James Clapper,
repeated his position that Iran has not yet
decided whether to develop a nuclear weapon.Continue

It is a sad commentary on the state of the
United States that ignorant, blowhard
warmongers such as the BPC receive money,
political support, and press coverage while
groups that want to restore sanity and
balance to American foreign policy are
forced to scramble to raise nickels and
dimes.
Continue

It is hard to imagine that the Iranian
government would send Iranian operatives to
friendly countries, completely equipped with
Iranian money and passports – making the
case against them as obvious as possible.
Continue

The world watches as tragedy
unfolds beneath its gaze. Khader Asnan is
entering his 61st day as a hunger striker in
an Israeli prison, being held under an
administrative detention order without
trial, charges, or any indication of the
evidence against him.
Continue

"We are not doing what the United States
says, we are doing what we have to do," said
Perez, who was elected on promises of an
"iron-fist" approach to rampant crime and
surprised observers by proposing drug
legalization.
Continue

Pakistan's Afghan
border remains closed to NATO:
The U.S. Embassy says Pakistan's border with
Afghanistan remains closed to NATO despite
comments by a senior Pakistani official that
seemed to indicate the coalition would be
allowed to transport some food items.

In Pakistan,
rightwing alliance is revived:
Bound together by hatred of the United
States and support for insurgents fighting
in Afghanistan, a revived coalition of
supposedly banned Islamist extremists and
rightwing political parties is drawing large
crowds across Pakistan.

4 "Taliban"
Insurgents Killed in Afghan Raid:
Four "Taliban insurgents" were killed in
joint Afghan and Nato operation in northern
Kunduz province on Wednesday night, the
media office of the 303 Pamir Corps based in
northern Afghanistan said on Thursday.

Afghan Taliban denies
having talks with government:
The Afghan Taliban rejected on Thursday
claims by President Hamid Karzai that the
U.S. and Afghan governments had begun
exploratory three-way talks with the
Islamist group aimed at reaching a peace
deal to end the 10-year Afghan war.

Probe finds Iraqi VP
behind death squads: An
Iraqi investigation panel says the country's
Sunni vice president and his employees were
behind years of deadly attacks on security
officials and Shiite pilgrims.

Arab League to arm
Syrian opposition:
Currently, the diplomatic efforts regarding
the growing crisis in Syria focus on the
development of the idea of ??Arab – U.N.
force as proposed by the Arab Ministerial
Council. According to Arab sources, the
parties wait for discussion and approval of
the Arab draft resolution at the General
Assembly of the United Nations. This is
scheduled to happen before this weekend.

Russia: West 'slammed
door' on Syria at UN:
Russia's foreign minister on Wednesday
blamed "external actors" for prolonging
Syria's agony, suggesting that the U.S. and
its allies opposed negotiations to end the
bloodshed there and were responsible for
torpedoing a U.N. resolution aimed at
calming the situation.

Sen. Graham: US Must
'Break Up' Syrian-Iranian Alliance:
Sen. Lindsey Graham says it is in America’s
national security interest to break up the
Syrian-Iranian alliance and to replace
Syria’s President Bashar Assad, because the
two countries pose a serious threat not only
to the nation but to the world.

Netanyahu:
International sanctions against Iran not
working: "The United
States - and any other country - should be
concerned because we have information of
ongoing efforts and attempts by Iran to
conduct terrorism in many parts of the
world. Fortunately until now there has been
no loss of life," he said after talks with
Cypriot President Demetris Christofias.

China urges IAEA
cooperation with Iran:
"The International Atomic Energy Agency
should strengthen contact and cooperation
with Iran in order to restore the
international community's trust in the
peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program,"
China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu
Weimin said on Thursday.

Libyan militias
“torture detainees to death”:
While most of the Western world was busy
praising the Arab spring as a long-awaited
“triumph of democracy”, the voices of t few
skeptics were completely ignored. However,
soon it turned out that not only did the
revolution fail to bring about any
improvements, it actually made the situation
much worse

Honduras in Flames:
The Comayagua fire must be understood in the
context of the near-total breakdown of the
Honduran state since the June 28, 2009,
military coup that overthrew democratically
elected President José Manuel Zelaya.

Vote Fraud In Maine.
It’s real.: Rachel Maddow "Maine Republicans
May Have To Withdraw Their Declaration That
Romney Won!"

Moody's may downgrade
UBS and Morgan Stanley:
It said among 17 banks and securities firms
with global capital markets operations, it
might cut the long-term credit rating of
UBS, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley by as
much as three notches following the review.
It said the guidance was indicative.

Germany's smear
campaign against Greece:
Germany’s Wolfgang Schäuble is entering into
ever more dangerous waters. His apparent
demand that Greece postpone elections
scheduled for April, and impose a technocrat
junta (a l’Italiana) for another year
without PASOK and New Democracy, takes your
breath away. Is this really the position of
the German government? Greek democracy be
damned?

Unemployment agency
extending hours: This
coming weekend around 80,000 people in
Michigan are set to lose their jobless
benefits, so the Michigan Unemployment
Agency is offering extended hours to help
people with questions.

A decade ago I had a boilerplate
gag in my speeches, which went something
like this: "I'm in favour of us having a
special relationship with the United States,
I just don't want us to have the kind that
Miss Lewinsky had with President Clinton.
One sided, undignified, immoral and with the
junior partner always on their knees."
Continue

Greek crisis used to find out how far
finance can drive down wages and privatize.
Continue

Honduras Prison Fire
Kills Hundreds :
- Video - Trapped inmates
screamed from their cells as a fire swept
through a Honduran prison, killing at least
300 inmates, authorities said Wednesday. The
fire broke out Tuesday night at a prison
about 90 miles north of the country's
capital

Iran activates 3,000
new centrifuges: Iran's
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Tehran
has added 3,000 new generation centrifuges
to its Natanz facility, increasing the
production of 3.5 percent enriched uranium
by 50 percent.

EU’s Catherine Ashton
has received Iran’s letter on nuclear talks:
"I can confirm High Representative Ashton
received the letter from Dr. [Saeed] Jalili
today," Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for
Ashton, told Yahoo News Wednesday. "We are
carefully studying the letter and consulting
with our E3+3 partners" on their response.

SWIFT sanctions: West
going to extremes to punish Iran:
US wants Iran evicted from SWIFT, an
independent financial clearinghouse that is
crucial to the country's oil sales. This
could immediately cripple Tehran’s financial
lifeline, but would come with its own costs
for the world economy.

India to step up ties
with Tehran; unfazed by US sanctions:
Unfazed by US sanctions and Israel linking
Tehran to the attack on an Israeli embassy
car here, India is set to ramp up its energy
and business ties with Iran, with a commerce
ministry team heading to Tehran to explore
fresh business opportunities.

US bid to crimp Iran
oil sales stumbles:
American attempts to get major Asian
importers of Iranian oil to rein in their
purchases are faltering as allies South
Korea and Japan give US officials a polite
brushoff. Emerging giants India and China
may even increase their purchases.

Taliban says U.S. to
repeat Soviet defeat in Afghanistan:
The Taliban used the 23rd anniversary of the
humiliating Soviet withdrawal from
Afghanistan on Wednesday to taunt the United
States that it would suffer the same fate as
preparations to hand over security to a
shaky government are underway.

Pak climb down over
NATO routes: NATO is
being allowed to use Pakistani airspace and
land routes to move food supplies to troops
in Afghanistan though border crossings were
closed after a cross-border air strike last
year, Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed
Mukhtar said on Tuesday

Can Pakistan survive
without US aid?: The
question, however, is to determine first why
Americans aided Pakistan and second what was
the money intended for. And even more
importantly, one should determine if indeed
Pakistan’s economic survival rests on
American aid.

USAID contractor case
renews debate on tactics:
The U.S. Agency for International
Development faces skepticism from other
countries about its true purpose and
warnings from critics who say it has strayed
too much into the world of clandestine
operations.

The Story of How U.S.
Special Forces Infiltrated Pakistan:
Using valid U.S. passports and posing as
construction and aid workers, dozens of
Central Intelligence Agency operatives and
contractors flooded in without the requisite
background checks from the country's
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.

New clashes rock
Libyan desert town:
Clashes between the Zwai and the Toubu
tribes in the town of Kufra broke out for a
third consecutive day today after 17 people
were killed in fierce fighting over the
first two days.

Libya: a year on:
"According to international human rights
watchdogs, about 7,000 Gaddafi supporters
are locked up in jails, abused and tortured.
The new authorities are not in control of
the whole of Libya. They are only
controlling Tripoli and a stretch of land
130 km west of the city. The rest of Libya’s
territory is being controlled by tribes.
Libya now resembles a barrel of gunpowder
with a blaster fuse."

Eurozone crisis:
Greece 'can't take any more cuts':
The Greek people have been pushed to the
limit by austerity measures demanded by the
EU and IMF, public order minister Christos
Papoutsis says. He said Greeks had made
"superhuman" efforts, and "can't take any
more".

Virtually without exception, the
American judiciary has refused to allow any
victims of America’s War on Terror abuses —
whether foreign national or American citizen
— to even have their claims heard in court.
Continue

"The police should leave you alone. It's not
right that they want to arrest you for being
my Grandpa." More prescient words were never
spoken.
Continue

7 killed as Libyan
forces regain control of town:
Libyan government forces on Tuesday took
control of the south-eastern town of Kufra
after days of clashes with gunmen loyal to
former leader Muammar Gaddafi that killed at
least seven people, a government official
told dpa.

Libyans fight back against U.S.-NATO
puppet regime: Al-Saadi Gadhafi,
was interviewed in Niger by Al-Arabiya
satellite television on Feb. 13. Saadi noted
the widespread disaffection and anger inside
Libya resulting from worsening conditions of
the majority of people since the overthrow.

Arab
states agree to provide guns to Syria
rebels: The message was
folded into Article 9 of an Arab League
resolution passed on Sunday that urges Arabs
to “provide all kinds of political and
material support” to the opposition, a
phrase that includes the possibility of
giving weapons to Assad’s foes. Diplomats at
the meeting confirmed this interpretation.

Is Israel using
Iranian terrorists?:
Iran has accused Israel of working with an
Iranian terrorist group to assassinate the
country's nuclear scientists. Experts say
that a possible partnership between Israel
and the MEK, also known as the People's
Mujahideen, is not a surprising match.

West may strike Iran
by summer - Russian Gen-Staff Chief:
The Russian General Staff is closely
watching the situation, and is not ruling
out the possibility of a coordinated attack
on the Islamic Republic, General Nikolai
Makarov, head of the Russian General Staff,
told reporters on Tuesday.

Gaza power plant
stops due to smuggled fuel shortage:
The Gaza Strip's only power station, which
supplies the Palestinian enclave with up to
two-thirds of its energy needs, was shut
down on Tuesday because of a shortage of
fuel smuggled in from neighbouring Egypt.

Two Separate Blasts
Kill 3, Wound 18 in Iraq:
A bomb in a parked car exploded around noon
near an Iraqi army checkpoint in the
northern city of Mosul, killing a soldier
and a bystander, a police officer said.
Twelve other passers-by were wounded in the
attack

RAF Regiment airman
killed in Afghanistan:
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) last night
(Monday) said that the airman was killed by
small arms fire while on a routine partnered
patrol in the Nad ‘Ali district of Helmand
province.

U.S Buys Pakistan:
US proposes $2.4
billion aid to Pakistan:
Obama administration Monday proposed $2.4
billion in financial aid to Pakistan for the
fiscal year 2012-1. The $2.2 billion is in
assistance to "strengthen democratic and
civil institutions" that provide a bulwark
against extremism

Egypt sends American
workers to trial:
Ignoring a U.S. threat to cut off aid, Egypt
on Sunday referred 19 Americans and 24 other
employees of non-profit groups to trial
before a criminal court on accusations they
illegally used foreign funds to foment
unrest in the country.

I’m fed up with the simplified, naive views
and the manipulative perception management
tactics that aim to draw unrealistic picture
about the conflict by conveniently framing
it simply as idiot proxies and armed
elements (SNC/FSA) vs. the brutal
mass-murderer autocratic regime (the
regime).
Continue

Russians and Chinese - veto makes
more and more sense as events on the ground
unmask US culpability in the civil war in
Syria. Yes, civil war. That’s what you call
it when an armed resistance takes up arms
against a sovereign government.
Continue

None of this has anything to do with helping
Greece. It’s just corporate pillaging gone
haywire. Greece is a big pinata that’s just
been cracked open and everyone is pushing
and shoving to grab their fistful of candy. Continue

Many seem at a loss to understand why some
are driven to struggle for a more just
world, even though, time and time again,
their ardor will be met by seemingly
implacable, ruthless resistance…that one’s
heart will be repeatedly broken.
Continue

NATO admits 8 Afghan
children killed in Kapisa:
Afghan government officials showed gruesome
photographs of eight dead boys, and said
seven of them had been aged between six and
14, while one had been around 18 years old.
They were bombed twice while herding sheep
in heavy snow and lighting a fire to keep
warm, they said.

Six "Taliban" killed,
19 surrender in Afghanistan
: At least six Taliban rebels, including a
commander named Fida Mohammad, have been
killed in a clash with security forces while
19 have surrendered in separate incidents in
Afghanistan, officials said Monday.

Gilani charged with
contempt, pleads not guilty:
Pakistan's Prime Minister Mr Yousuf Raza
Gilani was today indicted by the country's
Supreme Court for contempt for refusing to
revive graft cases against President Asif
Ali Zardari, but the PM pleaded not guilty
to the charges, conviction for which may
cost him his job.

Lieberman: US should
arm Syrian opposition:
Lieberman, who chairs the Senate Committee
on Homeland Security and Government Affairs,
said the Pentagon is putting plans together
and that it is time to "help the brave
Syrian freedom fighters."

The West Should Help
Assad: A Syrian state
crumbling under terror followed by large
sectarian slaughter and refugee streams with
certain spillover of fighting into all
neighboring countries. That can not be in
anyone's interest.

The
USA Enables the Killing Arab Christians:
This morning at church, our pastor read a
plea from a Christian pastor in Syria who
wrote that the Syrian opposition forces —
people endorsed by the U.S. Government —
have been murdering Syrian Christians with
impunity.

Russia balks at Syria
peacekeeping plan:
Russia's foreign minister has made it clear
that Moscow would not support a plan to send
United Nations peacekeepers to Syria unless
there was a halt to violence by both
government forces and their armed opponents.

Russia Not Ruling out
Peacekeepers for Syria:
“If we agree the terms of the mission’s
presence in the country, if the principles
of the UN organization charter are
fulfilled, there will be no problem,”
Russian Presidential Middle East Ambassador
Mikhail Bogdanov said on Monday.

Bombs target Israeli
diplomats in India, Georgia; 2 injured:
The wife of an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi
and her driver were injured on Monday when
the car they were traveling in was bombed,
officials said. A second attempted bombing
was defused outside the Israeli embassy in
Tblisi, Georgia, at about the same time.

Chabadniks in India
deny espionage charge:
Chabadniks in the southern Indian city of
Kochi on Tuesday vehemently denied a report
that appeared in local media earlier in the
day accusing them of being part of an
Israeli covert operation.

Obama prepares
Georgia for Iran war: Analyst:
Last week Georgian Defense Minister Bacho
Akhalaia announced the imminent arrival of a
delegation of American military experts,
asserting US-Georgia military relations were
entering “an entirely new phase.”

Iran presses ahead
with dollar "attack":
Last week, the Tehran Times noted that the
Iranian oil bourse will start trading oil in
currencies other than the dollar from March
20. This long-planned move is part of
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s vision of
economic war with the west.

Israeli gulag:
Israel rejects
Palestinian hunger striker's appeal:
An Israeli military court on Monday rejected
an appeal by a Palestinian prisoner who has
been on hunger strike for more than eight
weeks over his detention without charge, his
lawyer Jawad Bulus said.

Greece still to
convince Europe over rescue deal:
Scenes of running battles between police and
rioters and flames engulfing cinemas, shops
and banks underscored a sense of deepening
turmoil in the country after more than four
years of recession and two of punishing
austerity.

The end of Greece
: Within the last four
weeks the Germans have outrageously plotted
to cunningly take over the Greek Parliament,
particularly in relation to its power of
expenditure.

Obama budget proposes
new security, airline fees:
- Airlines and their passengers would pay up
to $32 billion in new air traffic and
security fees over 10 years, and grants to
big airports would fall sharply under White
House budget proposals on Monday aimed at
deficit reduction.

Syria remains too much like the
socialist state the Arab Socialist Ba’ath
Party founders envisaged for it, and too
little like a platform for increasing the
profits of overseas banks, investors and
corporations.
Continue

News organizations and websites
that have uncritically reported the atrocity
stories from these "human rights" groups
have helped set the stage for military
action against Syria, and have been in fact
part of the psychological preparation of the
battlefield. Continue

The United States has a two-tiered
judicial system, one for the "haves"and one
for the "have-nots." Greenwald presents his
thoughts in conversation with political
theorist, Noam Chomsky at the Brattle
Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Continue

Santorum believes that religious values (at
least his religious values) should play a
large role in shaping government policies.
For those not sure what this means, Santorum
has a list of examples.
Continue

Jihadists, weapons
'moving from Iraq to Syria':
Jihadists are moving from Iraq to Syria and
arms are also sent across the border to
opponents of Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad's regime, Iraq's deputy interior
minister said in an interview with AFP on
Saturday.

Fact or fiction:
Al-Qaeda behind Syria
blasts:US: THE Iraqi
branch of al-Qaeda, seeking to exploit the
bloody turmoil in Syria to reassert its
potency, carried out two recent bombings in
the Syrian capital, Damascus, and was
probably behind Friday's suicide blasts that
killed at least 28 people in the largest
city, Aleppo, US officials said.

Al Qaeda leader backs
Syrian rebels: In the
eight-minute video, entitled “Onwards, Lions
of Syria” and posted on an Islamist website,
the Egyptian-born Zawahri also urged Muslims
in Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan to come
to the aid of Syrian rebels confronting
Assad’s forces

‘Foreign military
presence in Syria raises ghost of Libya’:
Chairman of the State Duma International
Affairs Committee Alexei Pushkov spoke out
following reports that a “foreign special
task force” has been dispatched to Syria in
an effort to provide assistance to the
political opposition.

The
UK’s Secret mission to Beat Assad? :
British efforts to help topple Colonel
Gaddafi were not limited to air strikes. On
the ground – and on the quiet – special
forces soldiers were blending in with rebel
fighters.

Two killed in north
Lebanon in clashes over Syria:
- Two people were killed and at least eight
wounded in street battles in Lebanon's
northern city of Tripoli on Saturday, a
security source said, during a second day of
clashes between supporters and opponents of
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Turkish diplomat:
Iran is ready to cut a deal:
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
also criticized economic sanctions against
Iran as ineffective and warned that any
military strike against the country’s
nuclear facilities would inflame the region
while doing little to curb Iran’s ambitions.

Iran: War Drums
Beating: The idea of an
Islamic bomb exerts a peculiar fascination
on American political culture and shines a
searchlight on how the gross
dysfunctionality of American politics
emerges synergistically from the individual
dysfunctions of its component parts:

‘Israel funds MKO;
MKO funds US politicians’?:
“One of the most under-reported political
stories of the last year is the devoted
advocacy of numerous prominent American
political figures on behalf of an Iranian
group long formally designated as a
Terrorist organization under US law,” Glenn
Greenwald wrote on salon.com on Friday.

Germany refuses to
sign copyright treaty:
Germany will not sign an international
copyright treaty, despite having already
agreed to it in principal, government
sources in Berlin said Friday, after
protests over its implications for internet
users.

Mind-Blowing Charts
From the Senate's Income Inequality Hearing:
In another sign that Democrats have embraced
income inequality as a cause célèbre, the
Senate Budget Committee held a hearing on
the subject today. The committee's ranking
Republican, Jeff Sessions of Alabama,
managed to look concerned during two hours
of testimony about the kneecapping of the
Middle Class.

In an editorial, the New York Post
endorses the assassination of civilian
Iranian nuclear scientists, adding that the
terror group U.S. officials recently
confirmed as conducting the attacks might be
"far more deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize
than a certain president of the United
States we could mention."
Continue

There are numerous Muslims inside
the U.S. who have been prosecuted for
providing “material support for Terrorism”
for doing far less than these American
politicians are publicly doing on behalf of
a designated Terrorist group.
Continue

"Any opposition group can
receive economic, financial, military and
other assistance from the United States if
it is subjected to pressure from a regime
that no longer serves American interests."
Continue

This historical review raises an
important issue: Is the Pentagon seeking to
trigger military confrontation in the
Persian Gulf with a view to providing a
pretext and a justification to waging an all
out war on the Islamic Republic of Iran?Continue

"They are afraid, the Empire is
afraid. The Empire is afraid that the people
of the United States might find out about
the truth, they are afraid that something
like that could erupt in their own territory
-- a Bolivarian movement"
Continue

Why does Greece have to grovel for $130 bil
loan when the banks can just snap their
fingers and get as much money as they want?
And why does the IMF have one policy for
Europe and another for China?
Continue

Car bombs kill 28 in
Syrian city of Aleppo - TV:
Two car bombs detonated outside security
bases in the Syrian city of Aleppo on
Friday, officials said, killing 28 people in
the worst violence to hit the country's
northern commercial hub in an 11-month-old
revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

Free Syrian Army
blames Assad for Aleppo bombing:
Confusion reigned Friday, as the head of the
Free Syrian Army (FSA) Col. Colonel Riad al-Asaad
denied that his forces were responsible for
a twin bombing in the country’s largest city
Aleppo. The denial followed an admission by
FSA Col. Aref Hammoud to FRANCE 24 that it
was indeed his forces who were responsible
for the bomb attack

US debates arming
Syrian opposition as defense strategy:
Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer of the Center for
Advanced Defense Studies believes we should
use the model the Clinton White House used
for getting weapons to the Bosnians, running
so-called “black ops” to get weapons to the
Syrians. It’s something the U.S. also did to
fight the Soviets in Afghanistan after the
1979 invasion.

Libya decides to
expel Syrian diplomats:
The Foreign Ministry also said Libyan's
National Transitional Council now stands in
solidarity with the Syrian National Council,
an umbrella opposition group, and voiced its
condemnation against the unabated bloodshed
plaguing Syria.

Engineering Consent For An Attack On
Iran:
Report: Saudi Arabia
to buy nukes if Iran tests A-bomb:
Citing an unidentified Saudi Arabian source,
the Times newspaper in the U.K. said that
the kingdom would seek to buy ready-made
warheads and also begin its own program to
enrich weapons-grade uranium.

Bunker-Buster Bomb
Improvements Sought by Pentagon Win Approval:
The move to improve the bomb shortly after
the Air Force took delivery may have been
triggered by Iran’s announcement Jan. 9 that
it would begin uranium enrichment at the
Fordow facility near Qom that’s tunneled
into mountains, said Kenneth Katzman, a
Middle East military analyst for the
non-partisan Congressional Research Service.

Gaza Hamas chief
arrives in Iran: state TV:
The Hamas prime minister in Gaza, Ismail
Haniya, arrived in Tehran on Friday on a
three-day trip and is due to speak at a
rally marking the 33 anniversary of the 1979
Islamic revolution on Saturday, state media
reported.

Greek deputy foreign
minister resigns: reports:
Greece's deputy foreign minister resigned
Friday to protest tough new austerity
measures demanded by the euro zone and
International Monetary Fund. Lucas Papademos,
is the sixth minister to resign over the
last two days.

Greek default now
inevitable: With Greek
economic output in freefall, a messy debt
default followed by the country's ejection
from the eurozone now looks very much like a
question of when rather than if.

The insiders are
selling heavily: On the
theory that corporate insiders — officers,
directors and largest shareholders — know
more about their firms’ prospects than do
the rest of us, it can’t be good news that
they are selling at such a heavy pace.

The Pentagon had drawn up contingency plans
which could include supplying the Free
Syrian Army (FSA) with weapons and
establishing a humanitarian corridor to
deliver aid to civilians, The Times reported
today, citing a US official.
Continue

Forty-nine states, every one but
Oklahoma, as well as federal regulators will
participate in a foreclosure fraud
settlement that will release the five
biggest banks and their mortgage servicing
units from liability for robo-signing and
other forms of servicer abuse.
Continue

Comdr. of Syria's al-Farouq
rebels killed: Once a
high-ranking officer, Talas defected from
the Syrian army late last year and his
so-called al-Farouq militant group is blamed
for terrorist attacks against civilians and
security and military forces in Syria.

U.N.-Arab observer
mission proposed for Syria:
- As violence in Syria reportedly raged anew
on Thursday, the United Nations and the Arab
League were considering sending a joint
observer mission to the war-ravaged Middle
Eastern nation.

Libya
Can’t Stop Fighters Joining Syria Rebels:
Earlier this week, former Libyan rebel
fighters from the city of Misurata announced
the combat deaths of three Libyan comrades
fighting against the Syrian regime. Many
former Libyan fighters speak approvingly of
heading to Syria to join an increasingly
armed uprising against Mr Assad.

Libya Struggles to
Curb Militias as Chaos Grows:
A government whose authority extends no
further than its offices, militias whose
swagger comes from guns far too plentiful
and residents whose patience fades with
every volley of gunfire that cracks at
night.

Tuareg rebels seize
Mali border town: Ban
called on the rebel groups "to immediately
cease their attacks and to engage in
dialogue with the government of Mali to
resolve their grievances." He offered UN
support for efforts to find a peaceful
solution.

Tiny fraction of
Afghan forces self-sufficient, US says:
- Only 1 percent of Afghan police and
soldiers are capable of operating
independently, a top U.S. commander said on
Wednesday, raising further doubts about
whether Afghan forces will be able to take
on a still-potent insurgency as the West
withdraws.

US Kills Another Four
People in Pakistan:
A US drone strike in Pakistan's Waziristan
tribal region killed four suspected
militants on Thursday, Reuters reported.
This comes as a US drone strike on Wednesday
killed at least ten (alledged) "Taliban
insurgents" in North Waziristan region.

Legal framework
required to stop CIA drone carnage:
CIA drones are attacking funeral processions
and civilian and Taliban rescue teams in
Pakistan. A staggering report exposing the
practice has outraged NGOs and legal
experts, who are demanding international
laws to govern drone warfare.

Five killed as
Turkish forces clash with PKK militants:
Kurdish militants launched an attack on
Turkish security forces near the Iraqi
border in southeast Turkey early on
Thursday, triggering clashes in which one
soldier and four Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
fighters were killed, security sources said.

U.S. arms sale to
Bahrain raises eyebrows:
Little noticed as President Barack Obama
denounced the “unspeakable assault” by
Syria’s ruthless regime against
pro-democracy protestors and demanded Bashar
al-Assad to “step aside and allow a
democratic transition to proceed
immediately” was the resumption of American
arms sales to Bahrain.

Moscow warns against
Israel's stance on Iran:
- Israel's hard-line approach to speculation
that Iran is seeking to develop a nuclear
weapon could have "catastrophic
consequences", a senior Russian foreign
ministry official warned Thursday.

Israel's useful idiot:
Gingrich Warns of Iranian Nuclear Attack:
Newt Gingrich asserted on Wednesday that an
Iranian nuclear attack on the United States
was “a real danger” and that it could kill
and wound hundreds of thousands of
Americans.

General strike enters
second day in Israel:
Israel's banks, ports and stock market have
remained closed for a second day as half a
million workers continued a general strike
while the government and the country's main
labour union held talks on the status of
contract workers.

Greece's unions to
hold two-day strike over cuts: The unions, General confederation
of Workers of Greece (GSEE) and Civil
Servants Supreme Administrative Council (ADEDY),
announced on Thursday that their members
will go on a two-day strike from Friday in
protest at the controversial decision.

Drones over U.S. get
OK by Congress: Look! Up
in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
It’s … a drone, and it’s watching you.
That’s what privacy advocates fear from a
bill Congress passed this week to make it
easier for the government to fly unmanned
spy planes in U.S. airspace.

The Rise of Super
PACs and the 2012 Election:
Super PACs represent much of what is wrong
with American democracy rolled neatly into
one package. They are tools that powerful
special interests and a tiny privileged
minority can use to work their will by
drowning out the voices of ordinary
Americans in a sea of (sometimes secret)
cash.

Some legislators send
millions to groups connected to their
relatives: Some members
of Congress send tax dollars to companies,
colleges and community groups where their
spouses, children and parents work as
salaried employees, lobbyists or board
members, according to an examination of
federal disclosure forms and local public
records by The Washington Post.

The fundamental injustice of the tax system
grows clearer as tax day looms ominously
over working people and a few horde more and
more of the nation’s wealth.
Continue

US Kills 10 People In
Pakistan: A United
States drone targeted a compound in the
restive North Waziristan tribal region of
Pakistan today, killing 10 suspected
militants, officials said.

Fact or fiction:
Afghan official: Top
US envoy met Taliban leaders in Qatar:
"I can confirm that Mr Grossman met with the
Taliban representatives in Qatar. When the
president (Karzai) was in Rome, he came over
to his residence and briefed him about his
meetings with the Taliban," the official
said.

Official: U.S.
misjudged al-Qaida capabilities:
With the benefit of more than a decade of
hindsight, America may have misjudged the
true threat posed by al-Qaeda in the
immediate aftermath of the 2001 terrorist
attacks, a top Pentagon official said
Tuesday.

Suicide car bomb
kills 11 in Somali capital:
A suicide bomber killed at least 11 people
Wednesday in the war-torn Somali capital
Mogadishu when he detonated an
explosive-laden vehicle near the
presidential palace, officials said.

The killing has to stop : 'Besieged'
Homs endures tank assault
: Video -Activists said the army
was firing rockets and mortar rounds to
subdue opposition districts on Wednesday, as
tanks entered the Inshaat neighbourhood and
moved closer to Bab Amr.

Turkey urges aid for Homs, Syria conference:
He said that if the U.N. Security Council
failed to protect civilians, then
like-minded countries should find ways to
end the killing and deliver aid to civilians
trapped by military assault, especially
those in Homs.

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